


After-Affects

by PokemonLuverWulf



Series: After-Affects [1]
Category: South Park
Genre: As many people as I can fit - Freeform, Multi, Plus my own canon, Pretty much follows game canon, Spoilers: it's a lot, The focus is seeing how much trauma I can put a character through before they break, While some relationships are talked about they aren't really the focus
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-10
Updated: 2018-09-24
Packaged: 2019-07-10 17:10:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,778
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15953822
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PokemonLuverWulf/pseuds/PokemonLuverWulf
Summary: It's been a few weeks since the superhero shenanigans calmed down, and all seems to be (relatively) right in South Park. Until, of course, it's not, but would you expect anything else from this little mountain town? Cross-posted on ff.net





	1. Chapter 1

 

It was one of those weirdly quiet nights in South Park. In a town where crazy was somehow the norm, the idea of a night not filled with drunken screaming or the sound of police sirens was out of the box.

That didn’t mean the residents of the mountain town didn’t appreciate the occasional quiet nights. It meant better sleep for everyone, a night where no one had to keep a pistol by their pillow or fear for waking up to complete pandemonium due to dropped guards.

In a small, red house on the corner of a street, a young girl, wavy black hair splayed across her bed, snuggled further into her sheets, passed out. Tonight had been good; she’d gotten her homework completed and felt pretty prepared for the test tomorrow. Chatting with her friends had been the usual antics of trading sarcastic insults and sharing whatever weird videos they found while gossiping about the events at school. Dinner had been awesome and her parents didn’t argue once (a new norm she was very grateful for), before she’d gotten ready for bed and swiped through social media until her mom came in to say goodnight. The only downside was that she had hoped to go to bed without hearing them go at it like rabbits the next room over, but the girl had determined that beggars couldn’t be choosers, especially after the hellstorm she had gone through that caused her parents to be loving again.

Blissfulness is sometimes pretty bad, though. Passed out, she did not hear the dark van quietly hum up her driveway, nor did she hear the ‘thoomp’ and ‘clank’ of a grappling hook being fired and finding its target.

Feet worked their way up the side of the house as a dark figure climbed the rope. He peered in through the window to ensure that it was the right room before slowly easing a crowbar under the window. Once it was open enough, he eased in, trying to not kneel on the bed and wake the girl.

He didn’t count for a creaky toy box at the foot of the bed. As soon as the noise sounded the girl shot up and stared at him. Two pairs of eyes locked for a second, maybe longer.

And then the girl screamed.

She dove out of bed, lunging on all fours in a bid for the door. The man jumped as well, grabbing her, weight of his body armor helping to force her to the floor as she yelled for her father. She clawed at his face, kicking his armored torso in a bid to dislodge him and his arms from her throat.

“Shhh, shut the fuck up kid. Shut up!” The soldier hissed, wincing as she slammed her heel into his crotch. The girl seemed to take his advice, but her face scrunched up in concentration.

“Oh shit-”

A loud fart echoed around the room as the soldier backed off and started gagging from the smell. The girl gasped for air, fumbling for the doorknob and nearly hitting herself in the face in her bid to open it quickly. When the soldier reached for her again, she slammed the door in his face before running for her parents room.

Which of course was locked.

“Dad! Dad get your Springfield! DAD!” She jiggled the handle in a desperate attempt to force it open. She yelled louder before proceeding to kick the door. She yelped as something looped around her neck and yanked, trying to choke her out.

The door to her parents’ bedroom flew open, a half-naked man standing there with a semi-automatic in his hand. The sight of his daughter being garrotted was enough to wake him up fully and he slammed the barrel of the gun to the soldier’s forehead.

“Let ‘er go!” He yelled, voice slurring from sleep as he pawed at the black plastic loop around his daughter’s neck. The soldier grunted in response.

“I said let. Her. Go!” This time the father slammed the butt of the gun to the soldier’s eye, causing him to yelp and release the girl on instinct, who slammed into the ground and crawled between her father’s knees.

“Chris!” came the yell from the bedroom. A woman in a bathrobe ran into the room, phone to her ear. “The police are on their way!” She bent down to grab her daughter, who was shaking and gasping.

Hearing that the police were coming, the soldier kicked Chris in the crotch before fleeing to the girl’s bedroom and leaping out the window. Chris didn’t pay it any attention but turned to his daughter, who was being coached on her breathing by her mother.

“Raven, cupcake, you okay?”

She just nodded before breaking into a fit of coughing. Chris ran into the bathroom to get water as the sound of sirens began to echo and red and blue lights flashed through the windows.

In a short amount of time, Chris was describing the events to his superior and a paramedic was checking out Raven’s neck in the kitchen.

“Some broken skin and a ton of bruising. You might have some trouble speaking tomorrow but it’s not anything life-threatening.” The male paramedic concluded, wrapping a thin strip of bandage around her neck.

“I’ll call her teachers in the morning. Thanks Jasper.”

“Anytime Kelly.”

The paramedic walked out just as Chris and Sergeant Yates walked in.

“Okay Raven, I need you to back up your dad’s claims. Just to be clear, it wasn’t a black male but a male dressed in black?”

Raven nodded, before pointing at her shoulder, drawing out a shape.

“There was a patch on his outfit?”

Again Raven nodded.

“What did it have on it?”

Raven shook her head.

“That’s alright. Welp,” Yates straightened out, “we saw some skid marks going down the street so we’ll check ‘em out for as far as we can.”

“You want me to come with you guys?” Chris asked, escorting the Sergeant out of the house.

“Nah Chris, just stay here with your family. Dunno if the guy’s gonna try again so keep ‘em safe, you hear?”

Chris nodded. He opened the front door to see two figures arguing with officers at the driveway.

“Stephen, Linda.”

The Stotches looked up and ran over to their neighbor.

“Chris, what’s going on?” Stephen demanded.

“Nothing too big, folks, just a small home invasion. Nothing stolen, no one was seriously hurt.” The sidestepped cop caught up to the couple. “Now, please, go home and relax. We’re going to find whoever did this.

“Somehow doubt that.” Linda mumbled under her breath, but she and her husband allowed themselves to be escorted away.

^.v.^

Raven lifted up part of the bandage to peer at the purple and red bruising under it. She sighed before adjusting her sweatshirt, trying to use her hair and clothes to cover up the evidence.

“Raven? Punkin, you’re gonna be late!” Her father called up the stairs.

Casting one final look in the mirror, Raven grabbed her backpack and doubled down the stairs before leaping over the bannister and bursting out the door.

She didn’t have to run far, thankfully, as her home was literally half a block from the bus stop. Four figures were already there, and she waved as she approached.

“Hey Raven!” Stan called, waving back. She smiled as she skidded to a stop, white powder flying.

“Hey, what was with the police last night?” Kyle asked.

Raven just huffed and shook her head, trying to not dislodge any of her hair.

“Ah great, did you go mute again?” Cartman protested.

Raven glared, clearing her throat. “No.” she croaked out.

“You sound like shit.” Kenny mumbled out, smothered by his parka.

Raven just shrugged and nodded. Thankfully, the bus pulled up so that she didn’t have to be interrogated any more. The kids piled on and Raven slid into the seat next to a very cheerful looking blond boy.

“Well heya Raven!” Butters greeted her. Raven gave him a beaming smile.

“My mom told me that I should be extra nice to you today since your home got invaded last night. So I brought an extra granola bar!”

“Wait what?! Home invasion?!” Kyle nearly vaulted over the seat back, Stan hissing as he grabbed his friend’s belt loops. “That’s what happened last night?”

“Well yeah, that’s what my mom told me an’ she got it from an officer at the scene so it’s gotta be true right?”

Raven sighed, rolled her eyes and threw her face into her palm. “Yep.” she confirmed, secret blown as her hair moved to unveil the bandaging around her neck.

Stan peered over now, one hand still on Kyle’s belt. “Jesus Christ dude, what’d they do to you?”

“Hey, I got an idea, let’s not play Thirty Questions on the bus! And sit your asses back down!” the driver yelled.

Stan and Kyle mumbled but did as they were told. Raven peered around back.

“At lunch.” She whispered.

^.v.^

Of course the teacher just had to talk in front of the entire class to Raven about the events from last night and assured her to go to the nurse if she needed anything. At that moment, the noirette wanted nothing more than to turtle into her sweatshirt and glitch away somewhere. She had ended up being hounded by most of the class during lessons and was looking forward to hiding out in the girls bathroom until lunch was over to avoid the crowd that was sure to commence at the table. She was just glad her voice had recovered over the course of the day.

She’d just passed the boys bathroom when hands shot out and grabbed her, yanking her in with a yelp.

“Oh ya’ll are a bunch of dicks!” she complained to the nine faces peering at her.

“How else were we supposed to get you in here?” Clyde questioned.

“I don’t know, maybe fucking tell me?” Raven brushed her hair away, watching her friends’ eyes gravitate to her neck.

“What the hell happened?” Craig asked.

“Well, I gotta replace this anyway, so guess you’re gonna see.” Raven reached around and picked at the tape securing the gauze. She unwound it as her friends gasped.

Her neck was mottled purple near a long cut that almost encircled the entirety of her neck. The edges had faded, still an angry red but dying down to yellows and greens.

“Ngh! Are those-those ha-hands?” Tweek gasped.

“Started out as hands then turned into cable. Or wire, hard to tell.” She walked over to the mirror and pulled a roll of fresh gauze from her pocket, wrapping it around her neck.

“Wire?!” Tweek screeched. Craig shifted to rub his jittery boyfriend’s back.

“You think he’s gonna come back?” Clyde asked.

Raven’s hands stilled, and then fell. “Dunno.” She shrugged. “But somehow I have the feeling he might. The dude had body armor and a patch on his uniform. I think….I think it was those guys.”

“What guys?” Token was confused.

Raven turned to hop up onto the sink. “Y’all remember the Stick, when there was that helicopter?”

Kenny stiffened. “Those fucks?”

“It looked like the same shape.” Raven whispered. “But I don’t know. I didn’t see the unicorn. Couldn’t tell cause, yanno, trying to not die?”

Cartman looked peeved. “You told those chucklefucks to piss off though. In the most dramatic way possible.”

Raven chuffed. “Guess they don’t give a shit. Maybe it was something to do with Superheroes? I don’t know.” She hopped off the counter. “Well, I’m gonna go camp out in the girls bathroom to avoid a total shitshow in the cafeteria. See ya.”

“Wait.” Kyle blurted. All activity stilled. “Maybe we should stay at your place tonight.”

“What.” Stan deadpanned.

“Think about it! If that guy comes back he’s only gonna be expecting Raven, right? But he won’t be expecting all of us there, so maybe we could like jump him or something if he does make a reappearance. And even if he doesn’t, well….”

“Still a kick-ass sleepover.” Raven finished, a small smile on her face. “Sure. I’ll call my mom and let her know. One thing though-” She pointed at Cartman. “Fatass does not have any beanbag privileges.”

“Ay!” Cartman complained as she spun on her heel and waltzed out of the bathroom.

“What you get for being a dickbag!” She singsonged, flipping the bird over her shoulder.


	2. Chapter 2

“Mooommm.” Raven whined. “I’m bored.”

Her mom shot her a side-eye. “Well if this hadn’t been sprung on us so suddenly I wouldn’t have brought you with me, now would I?”

“It was Kyle’s idea.” The noirette mumbled into the handle of the shopping cart, swinging her leg as cheerful elevator music flowed through the air. “Why couldn’t I have stayed at home?”

“Neither your father nor I want to risk another attempt when we’re not there.” Kelly pulled down a family-sized bag of Cheesy Poofs and gently placed it in the cart.

“We need two, mom.” Raven noted.

“I’d think that one bag is plenty for you all.”

“Have you seen how much food Cartman can pack away? Two bags mom.” Raven leaned over, waving her hand in a lazy attempt to knock another bag in without moving. Kelly chuckled before retrieving the second bag. The cart had a large amount of snacks in it, most of them what parents considered ‘junk food’ and children considered ‘ambrosia’.

Kelly continued down the aisle, looking now at the stacks of Little Debbie, Hostess, and Drake’s boxes.

“Check for almonds, mom!” Raven called down.

“If you want to talk to me, then come here!”

Raven rolled her eyes, pushing the cart as slowly as possible before an idea jumped into her head. Placing one foot on the lower bar, she pushed off as if the cart was a skateboard or her electric scooter that needed a little bit of a boost. She glided by her mother, shooting a shit-eating grin.

“Look for almonds!”

“Raven Asher!”

Raven giggled as she glided down the aisle, before slamming her feet into the ground as a familiar ginger beehive turned the corner, trying not to slam into her friend’s mother’s cart.

“Hi Mrs. Broflovski.”

“Well hello there hun. You getting ready for your sleepover tonight?”

“Mhm. Just gotta get enough food to make sure Cartman doesn't wreck the pantry.”

“That's good, that's good. So, Raven, I heard about the attack last night…”

“Of course you would.” Raven muttered under her breath.

“What?”

“Nothing!”

“As I was saying, I’m a little worried about those awful men coming back to try again. Are you certain that you’re all gonna be safe?”

“Relax, Mrs. Broflovski, my dad’s a cop and he has a handgun. We’ll be fine. Swear on my mom’s spleen?”

“Excuse me?” Kelly approached, dropping two boxes of mini powdered donuts into the cart. Sheila had an expression caught between confusion and disgust.

“Well I don’t exactly have any honor to swear on and I’m certainly not betting my life to her.” Raven began to inch away slowly. “Anyway great talking to ya Mrs. Broflovski I’m gonna go see if they have any fruit punch pouches bye!” She zipped away down the soda aisle.

“That girl I swear….” Kelly shook her head.

“You’re certain that the kids will all be safe?” Sheila asked again.

“Of course. If anything happens the kids will call for Chris, and he’ll come in with his gun. Besides, I’m fairly certain that the kids can handle themselves fine, and I have a medical degree so if there are any emergencies I can handle them until the paramedics show up.” Kelly assured, before turning to jog after her escaped daughter. “If you have any concerns, call me later Sheila!”

The woman in question watched the dark haired mother turn down the aisle before continuing on her way.

“Those people live in a madhouse.” She commented.

^.v.^

“Raven! One of your friends is here!”

Clyde winced at the loud thump that echoed behind Kelly. Raven’s hand shot out and yanked the brown-haired boy inside without so much of a ‘hello’.

“You got the stuff?” She asked as soon as they were in her room.

“Hell yeah I do!” Clyde whipped open his bag to produce four Taco Bell boxes and two of their bags. “I got regular, Cool Ranch, Nacho Cheese, and six orders of Cinnabon Bites.”

“Then why are there four boxes?”

“Cause that’s for condiments and extra salsa.”

“Clyde, you’re a goddamn genius.” Raven raised her hand for a high five, which Clyde answered. “You mind helping me with the other stuff since you’re here early?”

The doorbell rang downstairs, and soon enough, Token was in the room.

“Did you bring it?”

“Yep. Remember, only free stuff, and we gotta-”

“Delete it off the drive, I know, I know.” Raven directed Token and his XBox over to her tv. “You know how to hook it up?”

“No sweat!” Token pulled the stand out from the wall and went to work with the wires.

“C’mon Clyde, you can help my mom with the food!”

^.v.^

In a fairly short amount of time, all of the kids were assembled in Raven’s room, the lot of them cheering as the XBox logo appeared on screen. Clyde and Token were discussing what game to play first when Raven announced her need to use the bathroom, leaping over Kenny’s prone body to get there.

Just as they heard the door shut, her phone lit up, Wendy’s contact picture filling up the screen.

_‘Far too pretty to be giving it cheap,_

_That’s why she’s makin’ six figures workin’ three days a week,_

_Ya she’d even break a promise in the promised land,_

_She didn’t make it this far by just shakin’ hands.’_

“What the fuck?” Kenny piped up.

Craig cocked a brow. “Isn’t that Nickelback?”

“That’s what you’re worried about? Why the hell did she pick a song about whoring for my girlfriend’s ringtone?” Stan frowned.

“Hey, hey guys, y’know what we should do?” Cartman suggested around a mouthful of Cheesy Poofs. “We should all call her phone, see what ringtones she’s picked for us.”

Kyle had silenced the ringing phone, and before he could voice a complaint as to why it was a bad idea, not to mention probably a breach of privacy, Cartman had whipped the ginger Jew’s phone from his back pocket and was typing away.

“Why my phone?” Kyle protested.

“You know why. Also stop using the same passcode for every phone Kyle, it’s honestly sad.”

Within minutes Raven’s cell was ringing again, this time with a different song.

_‘Well, I’m tired of pretending, but I’m terrified of it ending,_

_I know if not for you, there’s nothing I could do, to let it ever end._

_And I know you feel the same way, cause you told me drunk on your birthday,_

_And as you pulled me near, you whispered in my ear, don’t let it ever end.’_

Kyle quickly silenced the phone, beet red and ears burning with the amount of hooting from the boys as he yanked his own cell from Cartman’s grasp, grimacing at the amount of orange dust covering the screen.

“Mutual attraction!” Kenny crowed.

“C’mon dude, that’s like all the confirmation you needed! Go ask her out!” Stan pushed on his friend’s shoulder.

“Shut up.” Kyle muttered.

“Jesus Kyle, don’t be a pansy. You’ve been pining over her for months now.” Token added. Similar thoughts were made by the other members of the room.

“I-I mean, c’mon fellas.” Butters piped up from the beanbag. “If Kyle doesn’t feel like askin’ her out right now, he has the right to.”

“Thank you Butters.” Kyle said.

“Though...you two would probably look cute together.” The blonde admitted.

Kenny grinned, pitching himself backwards so that his head was between Butters’ knees. “You think so? You think they would look damn cute on that bed, lights out, alone in the house, wrapped in each others’ embrace when-”

“OK!” Kyle loudly protested, standing up and practically leaping out of the room. “I refuse to be part of this discussion! I’m gonna go see if Raven’s fallen into the toilet or something stupid.”

Large amounts of jeering followed him out before it was swiftly replaced by a loud discussion over who’s ringtone they should check next.

Kyle knocked gently on the bathroom door.

“I’m decent.”

“Knowing you, that can mean half a dozen things.”

Raven’s barking cackle drifted through. “Well I’m not naked if that’s what you want.”

She was kneeling on the counter, scratching at the scabbed-over mark around her neck, bruising faded to an off-yellow.

“It’ll scar if you do that.” Kyle admonished.

“Yeah, but scars are cool.” Raven countered. “It’s like ‘you tried to kill me? Sike bitch, I lived’!”

“Not if it looks ugly.”

“Even better!” She finished her picking and rotated around. “But I know you probably didn’t come in here to lecture me about scabs and shit.”

Kyle rubbed his arm. “Yeah. Well, Wendy called when you stepped out.”

“Okay.”

“So we heard your ringtone for her, which, by the way, Stan wasn’t happy about.”

“Didn’t expect him to be nor do I give a flying fuck.”

“So Cartman decided that we should all call your phone, and he used mine first.”

“Oh. That.”

“Yeah.”

There was a heavy silence in the room for a bit, before Raven spoke up first.

“Do they know about that time on top of Skeeter’s bar?”

“No, no, I haven’t told anyone about that. They just….kinda figured out that I like you by themselves. And now they know that it’s kinda mutual.”

Raven just nodded.

“....Do you….are you still nervous about….?”

Raven took a sudden interest in the floor tiles, but nodded all the same.

Kyle sat on the floor, leaning against the tub, silence returning once again.

“It’s nothing to do with you. It’s still just me.” Raven mumbled. “I just….I’m afraid of starting something that might be torn apart too early.”

Kyle was quizzical. “You mean like you leaving? But your parents love South Park.”

“Yeah, but they moved us around so much that I kinda started to think that any kind of relationship was pointless. And with this newest encounter I’m really worried they’re gonna make us move again.”

“Encounter?”

Raven seemed confused for a second. “Oh yeah, you didn’t travel back with me. I found out that the reason my parents moved us around so much was because they didn’t want the government to find me again.”

“On account of your weird social media powers.”

“Yeah. And if the guys who attacked last night are from that group then….I don’t know.”

Kyle nodded. “Let’s just hope things turn out for the better.”

Raven gave him a small smile, which he reciprocated.

“And, you’re, y’know, okay with waiting?” she asked.

“Yeah. Yeah. I’m willing to wait.”

“You didn’t those, what, last two times? That homeschool girl and the one who turned out to be a living ad?”

Kyle grimaced. “You will never let me live them down, huh?”

Raven giggled.

“Yeah. But if that’s my track record so far, maybe waiting is a good thing.”

“Maybe.”

A sudden knocking made them jump.

“Are you two fucking in there or what?” Kenny asked. Kyle groaned while Raven cackled, jumping down to open the door.

“Well, obviously not. You gonna come back?” Kenny gestured to the open door.

“Yeah yeah, we’re coming.” Raven playfully shoved Kenny out of the way. “Cartman! You better not have eaten all the Cheesy Poofs!”

“Well if you didn’t want me to eat’em all why’d you buy ‘em instead of Cheetos?”

“Cause Cheetos suck dick!”

Kenny nudged Kyle’s shoulder as he walked out.

“Anything?”

“Not yet Kenny, lay off.”

The parka-clad boy chuckled, holding his hands up in surrender. “Alright, alright. Tell that to the rest of the guys, though.”

Kyle rolled his eyes. “Honestly, that’s the last thing I want to do.”

^.v.^

“No, don’t leave me alone! I can’tngh! Fight this thing on my own!”

“Tweek we’ve exhausted the prey around here I gotta go elsewhere or we’ll both die!”

“Goblin armada!”

“Oh fuck me!”

“Fuck us!”

Groans drifted around the room as the dragons on screen disintegrated, players flopping backwards in defeat. Stan yanked both controllers from their hands and tossed one to Kyle.

“Let’s show ‘em what real co-op looks like.” He smirked.

^.v.^

“FUCK THIS GAME!”

“CLYDE I SWEAR TO GOD IF YOU BREAK MY FUCKING WINDOW!”

“I FELL OFF AGAIN?!”

Raven’s dad skidded in. “What the hell is all the commotion?!”

“RAINBOW ROAD CAN EAT A CHODE!” Chorused the room. Chris sighed.

“Okay, but can you all quiet down a bit? I really don’t want to have to explain to my superiors why the neighbors called a noise complaint on my house.”

^.v.^

“Oh hey, Queer Eye got a reboot! Wanna check it out?”

“NO!!”

Raven winced. “Okay okay, Jesus Christ.”

^.v.^

“No Cartman, four pizzas for everyone.”

“Aw c’mon! Why the hell not?”

“Have you seen the amount of shit you ate earlier? I’m not rolling you out of here.”

“Meh, I think it’d be funny to see him bounce down the stairs.”

“Screw you guys!”

^.v.^

“So who was the murderer?”

“Could’ve been anyone.”

“Well that’s a fucking stupid ending.”

“The movie’s basically a two hour long advert for the board game, the whole premise is fucking stupid.”

^.v.^

The kids had been quiet for half an hour.

Kelly tiptoed up the stairs, peeking into the kids’ room, smiling softly at the sight.

Craig was wrapped around Tweek on the beanbag, face obscured by the sheer amount of fluffy blonde hair. Butters was leaning against the side of the bag, Kenny’s head in his lap. Cartman was splayed out in the other corner, half-empty bowl of Cheesy Poofs under one arm while the other held a thoroughly squished pastry box. Token was stretched out in front of the tv, Clyde using him as a pillow and snoring loudly. Raven’s face was buried in the crook of Kyle’s neck, Stan on the other shoulder, the boy in question leaning against the bed, mouth half open and drooling while his arms were wrapped around his friends. Crumbs and blankets littered the room, and the only light was the soft glow of the abandoned screen.

“C’mon kids.” Kelly called softly, flicking the lights on and off. “Let’s get up and get ready for bed, okay?”

Groans answered her before the zombie-like horde shuffled to their feet and grabbed their bags.

^.v.^

Raven’s eyes snapped awake as she heard the grunt of a cut-off engine. Sitting up and peering out, she could see a black SUV in her driveway, fresh tire tracks in the falling snow.

“Guys,” She hissed. “Guys. Hey, guys. Assholes. Wake up!” She grappled with the toy box, rummaging around inside for her alien gun.

Tweek blearily looked up just as the grappling hook passed by the window. “Jesus Christ!” He twitched, accidentally striking Butters in the head, which then started a chain reaction until everyone sans Cartman was staring at the window.

Raven leveled her gun as a soldier climbed up and stared at the faces inside. He didn’t move to open the window, just stared, and so did they, the only sound the low hum of the rifle.

To their surprise, he shook his head and dug around in his pocket before producing what looked like a marker, before proceeding to write on the window. Once he was finished, he jumped back down, the hook was recalled, and they heard the vehicle back out of the drive.

“‘Don’t involve’?” Stan read. “The fuck does that mean?”

“I-I don’t know.” Raven said, voice trembling a little.

“Are you okay, Raven?” Butters asked. She shook her head.

“I saw the patch.” She lowered the gun. “It was the same group."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Most of what they ended up doing is media IRL. Hungry Dragons isn't an XBox game but it is a fun little mobile game I discovered while writing this.  
> See you all next chapter!


	3. Chapter 3

‘ _Don’t involve’_. What the hell did they mean by that?

Raven’s mind was buzzing. It was fairly obvious that the organization didn’t want her to involve other people, especially her friends, the question was, why? They had to have know that attacking her meant the entire town would be on high alert, which meant the involvement of the police as well as anyone else with the drive and firepower. They should have known this given how her friends got involved last time they showed up.

So why state that? Why state something that they knew wasn’t going to be followed?

“Raven, heads up!”

“Bwah?”

‘THUNK’

“Then again,” Raven murmured to herself as her vision snapped back just in time to see a large red object and then the ceiling of the gym, “Dodgeball games are bad places to space out.”

The teacher’s face filled her vision. “You okay, kid?”

“Peachy.” She hoisted herself up, grimacing at the pain that blossomed behind her head before trudging over to the bleachers where the rest of her team sat. Butters gently rubbed the back of her head.

“D’ya need to go to the nurse, Raven?”

“I think I’m ok.” She really wasn’t but it was better to put on a straight face in public than give into the fear and slight paranoia that permeated her being. She’d done it for years and could do it forever, even with a pounding headache.

They sat in silence and watched the game, her mind spinning, trying to figure out what they were doing with what little information she knew.

Time sped up, class passing by quickly before someone shoved a wad of paper towels under her nose. She jolted, looking up to see the game stopped and everyone staring as Kenny held the wad to her face.

“C’mon, you’re going to the nurse.” He guided one of her hands to the ball and the other looped under her armpit, yanking her upwards.

“‘M fine.” She retorted, before Kenny pushed her free hand into her face and she noticed the spattering of blood covering it. “Oh.”

“Yeah, ‘oh’. We’ve been trying to get your attention for a while. Might have a concussion too.”

She stumbled through the halls to the office, where the nurse cleaned out her nose, shone a light in her eyes, and gave her an ice pack and ibuprofen for the headache. Kenny opted to sit with her until she felt okay enough to go back to class.

“I know that’s not just it, Kenny.” Raven said when the nurse was out of hearing range.

“What, afraid?” She could see that cocky grin through his parka.

“Of you? Please.”

“Alright. What the hell’s up with you today? You’ve been silent since last night and you kicked Tweek under the table to keep him from mentioning specific details during breakfast. You barely moved during the dodgeball game and we’ve had to poke you awake sometimes during classes too. Stan’s concerned, Butters’ concerned, Tweek is paranoid about you and Kyle’s close to throwing a conniption fit.”

Raven stared at the ceiling. “‘M just tryin’ to figure out what the fuck’s going on. Those guys just showed up, tried to kill me or kidnap me, apparently don’t want me to involve other people when they should know damn well the entire town will get up in arms about this, and last time I saw them I told the guy in charge to never show his face around there again. None of that is helping me.”

Kenny leaned back. “And that’s not important to tell us about because….”

“Because….” Raven struggled to come up with a valid answer that didn’t sound totally batshit before huffing. “Nothing, really.”

“You’re just a stubborn bitch.” Kenny smirked.

Raven laughed. “Ya caught me. Raven Asher, world record holder for stubbornness and spite.”

“Oh my god, can I get your autograph?”

She felt better than she had all day.

^.v.^

When they returned from the nurse, Kenny didn’t mention anything about their conversation, and for that, Raven was grateful. She finished the school day in a better mood, especially when the boys walked her home and bid their farewells.

The weekend was coming up, so there was little to no homework. Her dad was home and watching a recorded football game while her mom was at work at Hell’s Pass. Games and toys didn’t seem interesting at the moment, and neither did social surfing.

What did seem interesting was a shit-ton of researching.

An hour and a half later yielded more questions than answers. The organization had been spotted before, but these pictures were deleted moments after posting. Government websites listing the different offices and sponsored research groups had no mention of anything pertaining to the supernatural or paranormal, nor did it bring up that unicorn-emblazoned logo, and looking for a unicorn logo just brought up a bunch of girly kids toys.

Grumbling, Raven threw herself onto her bed, one more headache away from screaming into her pillow. She had nothing to plant a concrete theory with. God, did she feel like a failure, some voice in the back of her mind screeching at her incompetence in protecting the town and ability to fuck absolutely everything up. The town was possibly at risk and it was her fault. She had to fix this.

And then she remembered the van. An idea began to piece itself together in her head. It was stupid, but it was an idea.

Raven whipped her phone from her pocket and quickly set up a group text.

^.v.^

 **Raven:** ya’ll got a minute?

 **Craig:** sure

 **Kenny:** wassup?

 **Raven:** so i think i have a plan

 **Raven:** to understand the recent craziness that in no way deals with cartman or the rest of us

 **Raven:** or stems from some stupid scheme by our wonderful mayor to put south park on the map

 **Craig:** youre talking about your recent almost kidnapping by a group we dont know about

 **Raven:** yeah

 **Raven:** that

 **Raven:** anyway answer me this

 **Raven:** how many vehicles come in and out of south park that aren’t owned by residents?

 **Kenny:** used to be alot

 **Kenny:** until sodosopa and shitpa town went under

 **Kenny:** now wer just a gas stop along the highway that happens to have residents

 **Raven:** exactly

 **Raven:** and those soldiers were using a van/jeep/whatthefuckever to get to my house

 **Raven:** there’s also one way in and out of town so they had to use that

 **Craig:** that goes to rancher bills and the old memberberry field

 **Craig:** if youre thinking of using tire tracks then good fucking luck cause the town still salts the road

 **Craig:** and at the point that we dont need to do shit the state takes over

 **Raven:** yeah but thats it for the road

 **Raven:** there’s no campsites or houses out that way cause it’s all in the opposite direction

 **Raven:** and if any land needed to be cleared for a mobile base we would probably hear it, or bill would and then he would talk to the mayor about it

 **Raven:** and the town jurisdiction ends just outside of bill’s property plus the state does shit all over here so there might be some tire tracks

 **Kenny:** so lemme see if i can pick out whats going on

 **Kenny:** youre planning to check out if a base has been set up outside of town

 **Kenny:** and you want us to come along?

 **Raven:** pretty much

 **Craig:** why us

 **Raven:** cause you’re both hella stealthy and can fight really well and youre both pretty fit

 **Raven:** if i asked stan he would tell kyle and then kyle would go all mom mode on my ass, token would be a flat out no and he would tell someone, cartman is a big fuck no and butters is too pure

 **Raven:** timmy and jimmy speak for themselves, the girls would gossip, clyde would break down into tears at the first sign of trouble, and craig you would kick my ass if tweek got hurt plus tweek would blab so fucking easily it’s almost laughable

 **Kenny:** so we’re your final options?

 **Raven:** no you’re my safest options

 **Raven:** cause my last option is to go by myself

 **Raven:** but i’d rather not just because

 **Raven:** and you better not tell anyone else i admitted this

 **Raven:** i’m pretty fucking terrified at the idea of going solo

 **Craig:** im going to humor you for a second

 **Craig:** say we both say yes

 **Craig:** and that doesnt mean im in and i cant speak for kenny

 **Craig:** how do you plan on getting there?

 **Raven:** the majority of us own bikes craig

 **Kenny:** i dont

 **Raven:** i know that’s why i said majority

 **Raven:** kenny can borrow my mountain bike and i can use my scooter

 **Raven:** so are you in or not?

 **Raven:** this shit is going down tonight whether or not y’all say yes

 **Kenny:** fuckit im in

 **Kenny:** sounds like fun tbh

 **Craig:** sure

 **Craig:** only because you two are idiotic fuckwads and need someone to watch your backs

 **Raven:** aw, you do care craig!

 **Raven:** anyway, meet me at ustorit by ten tonight

^.v.^

“Well look who’s a fucking junior detective.” Craig whispered. Raven could only nod in response.

After meeting up the trio had exited town to find faint strips of mud and salt heading in and out of town. Following it had led to a patch of snow laden with tracks that led to the entrance of the old berry field, filled with sounds and faint lights.

They’d ditched their bikes a ways back and trudged through the woods towards the activity, and ended up against a chain link fence that blocked off entrance to a small base camp. Soldiers ran around, in and out of tents, and small ATVs drifted around as well. Lights were flickering out as people prepared to turn in for the night.

“Do you have any clue about what to do now?” Kenny asked.

“I got an idea, let’s head back and tell the police.” Craig hissed.

“Shut up both of you.” Raven retorted, lightly jogging away. The boys rolled their eyes and followed behind.

“The fuck are you doing?” Kenny whispered.

“I need answers, and there’s only one other way for this to happen.” Raven answered, pulling a small pair of chain cutters from her sweatshirt pocket. “That building with the fuckload of antennas is probably their communication hub or at the very least the center of this whole thing. If we can get in we’ll probably find a lot of evidence about what they’re doing here.” Said building was a few good yards away from the fence, and was dark, which meant no one was inside.

“If it’s their main hub then why isn’t it in the center?” Craig questioned

“Better service, probably.” Raven grunted, leaning to her right side to cut a section of fence. Once a decent sized hole had been made, she scooted in, the boys right behind her.

The door was locked, of course, but Kenny was a master of getting in and out of things. A couple minutes of lockpicking later and the trio was in.

“Ok, I’m gonna look for their radio room. You two go find whatever you can.” Raven peered around doors before darting into a room and closing it off. Craig looked at Kenny, who just shrugged and sauntered deeper into the building, the noirette close behind.

The two of them ended up in a meeting room of sorts, projector sitting on a long table surrounded by plush chairs. When Craig hopped onto a seat, he found a load of papers and files scattered around.

“Idiots,” he muttered under his breath, skimming through the debris. Some of it was schedules for the various businesses around South Park and for the people themselves. A thick tome was filled with personal information about each and every resident, something that struck a nerve within Craig. He hissed to Kenny, who had been observing a whiteboard with a drawn on map of South Park, who hopped up next to him. Craig shoved him the information packet and dove for another thick file.

“Jesus Christ,” Kenny breathed, “How long have they been observing us?”

“A fair while.” Craig said, his next words cut off by a small choking noise. Kenny whipped his head around just as Craig smacked a file in between them.

The first few pages were full of highlighted and redacted text, but one word stuck out among the rest.

Dovahkiin.

“Hey, that’s what that weird government guy called Raven back during the Stick of Truth!” Kenny hissed.

“That’s not all.” Craig flipped through to a series of pictures, all of them labeled with addresses. The first one was of a newborn baby, screaming with displeasure at the camera, still sticky-wet and cord freshly cut, limbs splayed like an octopus. The address was redacted, not even a zip code to speak of, only a date.

The rest of them were of a young girl with shaggy black hair, evidently taken from outside houses or schools. She smiled less and less as the pictures went on, and all of them were in different states.

They didn’t need to look at the most recent ones to know who it was.

“It’s Raven.” Craig voiced it anyway.

“They’ve been following her since she was five. Holy fuck, no wonder her family’s paranoid.”

“And it looks like she was born at one of their facilities.” Craig pointed to the background of her baby picture. The walls were grey, tiled, and various machines that did not belong in a hospital lined the walls. Even more so were military uniforms not dissimilar to those worn by the soldiers here that stood behind her bassinet.

“Shit man.”

A loud klaxon made them fall out of their seats. Red lights burst to life within the building, and loud shouts could be heard outside.

Raven slid into the room, looking panicked. “C’mon, we gotta go go go!”

“The fuck did you do?!” Craig yelled as they sprinted out the back door.

“Less talking, more running for our fucking lives!” Kenny shoved his friends forward.

Tall dark figures could be seen behind them as they shimmied through the hole, Raven stumbling as she stooped to pick up the discarded cutters. Kenny and Craig yanked on her arms to propel her forward through the forest, blindly backtracking to their getaway vehicles as searchlights flooded the forest, nipping at their heels.

^.v.^

The dark calmness of the town was incredibly welcoming as three nine-year-olds collapsed aside the dumpster outside of the U-Stor-It. Their limbs felt wobbly and they heaved for breath as the adrenaline faded from their bloodstreams.

For a while, no one said anything, and the only sound was their heavy breathing.

Until Raven snorted.

The boys looked at her, watching as her body shook and more snorts made their way from between the hands she had pressed to her mouth, morphing into smothered giggles, before she simply tossed her head backwards and cackled to the entire world.

It was infectious, because before long, Craig and Kenny were laughing too, all of them leaning on each other for support as they dealt with the fear the only way they could think of.

“Holy shit, that was so stupid!” Craig chortled.

“Oh my god, I’ve never been that afraid for my life since….ever!” Kenny sniggered.

“How did we get away with that?!” Raven shrieked.

The cheerfulness lasted for a few minutes until the giggles subsided and they slipped into a more light-hearted silence.

“So, Raven, you set off the alarm?” Kenny asked.

“Not on purpose! Turns out that deleting a radio call to a private line is way fuckier than you’d think.”

“A radio call?” Craig asked. “Who did you call?”

Kenny quietly sang “Ghostbusters” under his breath before both Craig and Raven smacked him.

“Well….”

^.v.^

_Raven closed the door behind her before hopping onto the large chair in front of the main monitor. She slipped a pair of headphones over her head before delving into the listed contacts._

_The man she was looking for wasn’t there, so she switched over to the more restricted lines. Names and ranks flew by until she found it._

_General._

_She punched the ‘dial’ button and sat back, anger bubbling in her gut._

_“Who is this? I gave explicit orders not to call me on vacation!” An angry voice grumbled back._

_“Hey General Asswipe. It’s Raven Asher. Or Dovahkiin. Whatever you chucklefucks call me.”_

_A loud sputtering could be heard over the line. “Dovahkiin? How did you get this number?”_

_“I snuck into the goddamn base your lackeys set up near South Park, which, by the way, dick move ‘cause I remember telling your fat ass to shove-”_

_“What base? I never ordered a base to be set up in Colorado.”_

_Ice water flooded Raven’s veins. “You didn’t?”_

_“No. I respected your demands and ordered that all work put into your retrieval cease. We even stopped the monitoring of your social media feeds. What is going on?”_

_“Men in the uniforms of your branch of operations tried to choke me out in my own room two nights ago. And last night, another one tried again, except my friends were there so he gave up and left. And now I’m sitting in the coms room of a small base filled with men wearing your uniforms.”_

_There was a heavy silence before the General spoke again._

_“Listen to me, Dovahkiin, I gave no orders for your retrieval. Whoever is leading this disobeyed direct orders. You and your town are not safe. You need to tread carefully for now. I will be returning in two weeks, do you think you can manage that?”_

_Raven nodded before remembering he couldn’t see her, squeaking out a small “Yes.”_

_“Good. Now go!”_

^.v.^

“Christ, this is becoming a headache.” Craig moaned.

“So what now?”

Raven shrugged. “Lay low, I guess.”

“How the fuck do we lay low in South Park?”

“Stay normal?”

“Again, how?”

Raven grumbled. “Listen, I don’t fucking know everything!” She put her head into her hands. “I don’t know.”

Kenny patted her back. “Well we found out that they have eyes on the town. They’re probably waiting for a chance for you to be alone. So we just make sure you’re not alone.”

Craig nodded in agreement before standing up.

“So, do we speak of this to anyone?”

“And be grounded for life?” Raven’s head shot up. “Hell no.”

“So it’s our secret then.”

“Yeah. Stealth buddy secret.” Raven grinned.

Kenny just chuckled and Craig groaned

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was probably my favorite one to write so far, cause we're delving into the thick of it now!  
> See you all next chapter!

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! This is my first fanfiction posted on AO3 so I'm pretty excited and nervous to see what you all think!  
> This story has been a year in the making and I finally have the confidence to write it!  
> If you want to find me on other social media, I'm on Tumblr @pokemonluverwulf


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